If Dems Lose 2014 Will Media Admit Anti-Cruz Hype Was Overblown?

Supposedly, the Republicans are facing disaster because of the incredible (alleged) stupidity of shutting down the government and refusing to authorize the Federal Government to borrow money to pay the interest on borrowed money. (Once the government got the green light to borrow money to pay the interest on borrowed money then the economy was stabilized because everyone was “reassured” that the Federal Government would pay its debts. Makes perfect sense doesn’t it?). The Republicans are in trouble because the American people blame them for the shut down.

No, I don’t mean it is a shocker that the Dems are in trouble. They should be. I mean it is a shocker that people at Mother Jones, Leftist though they may be, are doing some real journalism. Perhaps I should be reading Kevin Drum, the author of the piece, more often. He not only by finds and reports the data, but finds it in a Left-leaning source of information that purports to show how the Republicans are in trouble.

As I’ve said before, it doesn’t matter what the nation thinks of Congress in general; what matters is what the voter’s in a district or State think of their Representative of Senator. So the poll results actually look worse for Democrats. Thus:

But once you get past the generic questions and ask about approval/disapproval of actual members of Congress, the picture turns sharply…

In Democratic districts, net incumbent approval has plummeted by 11 points, from +8 approval to +3 disapproval. In Republican districts, incumbent approval has gone down only 4 points. You see the same results when they ask a question about warmth of feeling toward incumbents: It’s down 7 points in Republican districts and 9 points in Democratic districts.

This isn’t good news for Democrats. It’s true that attitudes toward the Republican Party have taken a bigger hit than attitudes toward the Democratic Party, but attitudes toward actual incumbents are exactly the opposite. And in elections, that’s what matters.

So if Democrats lose big in 2014, will the media admit that they were wrong in all their dire “warnings” to Republicans?

One other thing: Drum adds a postscript:

There’s also a very weird result (on slide 20) showing that voters in Republican districts are more eager for their representatives to work with President Obama than voters in Democratic districts. I have no idea what to make of this. In fact, it’s so strange that it makes me wonder if there’s something wrong with this poll.

The way Drum explained the result, I don’t think it sounds so strange. Republicans are aware they don’t have a veto proof majority. So they would be eager for Obama to work with the Republicans in their agenda. I think it makes some sense.

But the answers indicate that an increasing number of Democrats want their representative to “stop Obama,” and that the number of Democrats who want their representative to do this is greater than the number of Republicans. That, I agree, makes no sense.